The Mason Jar King speaks out on his exit
(Monty Brinton/CBS Entertainment)

For weeks, Survivor fans gave Taylor Stocker and Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa grief over embarking on a showmance in the middle of a cutthroat competition for a million dollars. They were accused of lacking self-awareness in a game that demands it in spades. While that may be true once the game started, let the record reflect that before hitting the beach, Taylor very much predicted an eventuality that came to define his final moments in Fiji.

“I’ve thought about this: if I think I’m going to get voted off, just hold the food as hostage at Tribal,” Taylor told me during our pre-game interview last March. “If I get voted out, I’m not going to tell you where I hid all your [expletive], so good luck trying to find it in the woods if I get voted out!”

Taylor knew that when he gets hungry, he gets angry, and he feared that his “hangry” antics could cost him the game. In truth, Taylor’s number was probably already up, but the fact that the self-proclaimed mason jar aficionado smuggled two massive cherry-picked snack containers away from camp without his tribe’s approval certainly didn’t help his case. At least he knew himself well enough to call his final days in the game far in advance. Not only that, Taylor’s last act may have caused some damage for his mortal enemy, the Figgy-slaying Adam Klein, called out for his possession of a reward-stealing advantage and knowledge of the hidden stockpile of food.

In the end, then, Taylor was able to leave on terms he predicted weeks earlier, somewhat avenging his ousted girlfriend in the process. Happy enough ending, right? Well, Figgy’s exit press indicates otherwise. While my interview with Figgy was not posted due to scheduling issues on my end, it contained the same anti-Taylor sentiment found in her interviews with Gordon Holmes, Rob Cesternino, Dalton Ross and other members of the Survivor press. The short version of a long story: Figtails is no more. In our exit interview today, Taylor gives his side of that story, but first, we go into the mason jar. Let’s hope there’s no mayo inside.

Taylor: You know, in that context, it did sound kind of weird, the way they put that together. I was talking about canning and making my own food, gardening and preserving. Specifically, I stole only things that would be better preserved in one of those mason jars. I didn’t want to steal things like meat or cheese or something like that, because that’s going to get nasty. I was only stealing stuff that wouldn’t go bad.

Wigler: The salami mason jar does not sound appetizing.

Taylor: Yeah. As much as I like hoagies and fermented meats, no. (Laughs.) But when you get that hungry, the thought runs through your mind.

Wigler: I looked back at our interview from before the season today, and you’re on the record predicting that you could get “hangry,” and that you might hide food from your tribe. So if it’s any consolation, you called this.

Taylor: Yes! I didn’t go into this not expecting that. I know myself. I knew that I would be tempted to do something like that. Was it good for my game? No. I think if I would’ve won that immunity it would have been good for my game, but definitely not in that circumstance. It was interesting. I would say the first two weeks were the roughest, specifically Day 12 and Day 13. Those days were just rough for me. But past that, it really wasn’t that bad. Your body adapts to it, eating really small meals at certain times. It was very strange. But I’m used to being on this extremely high calorie diet. To go from that to just eating a cup of rice a day, that’ll make you steal some food.

Wigler: Talk me through the logic of that. Was there a gameplay angle for stealing the food, or was it as simple as: “Dude’s hungry, so dude’s gonna eat.”

Taylor: No, definitely some thought. First thought I had was, “Why has no one held the food hostage?” Almost like, rationing people out and totally taking control of the food. I don’t think anyone would have done anything even if they knew I was stealing it. Then second was just the energy, depending on the type of challenge that’s ahead, to have that much more energy over the other people is an advantage. I didn’t win that advantage, I’m making that advantage for myself. Those were the two things I thought of. If I could have done it differently, I would have let Jay and Michelle in on it. That was just stupid to me. But your mind is so crazy in that game. You do not think rationally at all. (Laughs.) Those are the things I wish I had done. It would have been a lot more useful.

Wigler: You and Jay decide, while eating from the mason jar, to blow things up at Tribal Council and reveal not only your secret food stash, but Adam’s advantage as well. Talk me through how you got to this idea.

Taylor: I talked with Jay. At that point, we had heard both of our names being dropped. I walked by Hannah after she was on the beach with a group of people. I said: “You can tell me if it’s me going home. There’s nothing I can do right now. You have the votes secured.” She just looked at me and she didn’t want to tell me that it’s me, but she said, “You know who’s name to write down.” That meant Jay. They told the same thing to Jay, so that meant they’re splitting votes. So I talked to Jay: “It’s you or me. Let’s have a last feast together because one of us is going home.” As we’re eating, we’re trying to think of some way out of this. What if we blow up Adam’s game and try to make him out as a bigger threat than both of us combined? If we could pull it off, we could survive another day. I knew Jay had an idol, because Will’s telling everybody, but Jay had never officially told me that. I wish we could have found some loophole through that situation so both of us could survive. But Jay and I would have had to go at each other eventually. We knew that from the get go and we were okay with it.

Wigler: You get to Tribal Council, and you’re both dragging Adam as far under the bus as you can. You certainly had your reasons to be angry with Adam, with him voting out Figgy. Did your animosity toward Adam date back even earlier than the Figgy vote?

Taylor: No, he was on the bottom from the beginning. My thoughts were he would never want to take me to the end. He’s always going to gun for me eventually. In my mind, I was going, “The wisest thing right now is to get Adam out.” In my mind, I looked at Adam and Zeke as Gen X-ers. So the Gen X-ers had the numbers. From the very first vote at Millennials, those two were on the bottom. If a merge had happened then, they would have been the first to flip. So thinking about that… it wasn’t so much the Figgy vote, but the thoughts in his mind of what would get him ahead. I came back [after that vote] and said, “I would love to hear your grand plan on how we’re going to do this in the future. What happens now that we just voted out one of our own kind and we have to explain that now?” Just not really totally working through the problems and considering all the options. I do see from his angle that [Figgy] and I obviously wouldn’t vote each other out, so he’s obviously going to want to side with Ken and Jess over us.

Wigler: Adam told you about the reward-stealing advantage, so you had a lot of time to consider how best to use that item in this game. Did you ever think about how you would have used the advantage if it was in your possession?

Taylor: Yeah. You know, I remember thinking about that advantage specifically after the game, sitting at Ponderosa. I was thinking that it’s more of a curse than it is any type of benefit. You use that, and even if you went to someone and said, “Hey, whoever comes in last place, then I’m going to steal your reward,” and that was aware? That’s just going to piss people off. You’re going to make people really upset. To be honest, I would flush that thing. I would just flush it on something meaningless. I would maybe even give it to someone. That would be even better.

Wigler: So you never bargained with Adam for the advantage?

Taylor: I didn’t. I thought of it as a curse. You’re going to steal someone’s reward? A big fatty cheeseburger? You’re going to be make someone so mad.

Wigler: How furious would you be? Imagine yourself at the Survivor auction. You just won that fatty burger, and Adam yanks it away from you. Would that be worse than him voting out Figgy?

Taylor: Totally, man. (Laughs.) The part for me was the loved one visit. I’m going, if I’m standing there, and I’m this close to my family member, and you’re tired and it is emotional, and then Adam steals it right from you and takes it away? Man, that would just suck so bad. How angry would you be? Especially just that experience… you want your family member to come on the show and see what you’ve been doing and go on a helicopter ride or whatever else you’re going to do. For that to not be an experience because one man could take it away? That would suck.

Wigler: Figgy did her exit press. I’m sure you’re aware of all of that. What’s the official Taylor Stocker position on the Figtails situation?

Taylor: Yeah, definitely no more. (Laughs.) I respect her. If she wants to bash me or whatever for being a bad person or something like that, she can say whatever she wants. My family and my friends and my area knows I’m not like that. Whatever allegations she wants to push towards me, she can say whatever she wants.

Wigler: Your experiences out there were so intrinsically tied with Figgy. Does it make it hard to look back on Survivor, given that things have not worked out?

Taylor: Yeah, definitely. (Pauses.) It was a little bit cringey at points.

Wigler: The Ponderosa video is a little bit awkward, Taylor. Just a touch.

Taylor: Yeah! (Laughs.) Yes. Even some of the episodes. I couldn’t watch them. I just couldn’t do it. The last few weeks, I’ve watched them all.

Wigler: Are you excited to be a dad?

Taylor: I’m super excited. It’s something new. In July, I found out I’m having a son. It’s pretty unreal.

Wigler: I hope that when your son is of age, he’s as good at mason jars as his father.

Josh Wigler is a writer, editor and podcaster who has been published by MTV News, New York Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, Comic Book Resources and more. He is the co-author ofThe Evolution of Strategy: 30 Seasons of Survivor, an audiobook chronicling the reality TV show’s transformation, and one of the hosts of Post Show Recaps, a podcast about film and television. Follow Josh on Twitter @roundhoward.